SMART CITIES WORKSHOP: City Infra Outlook and Development plan

The Smart Cities Council India successfully organised its first-in-its-series of India-wide multicity smart cities workshops in Solapur on June 2, 2017. Solapur was selected under the Centre’s smart city mission, which witnessed a lineup of world-class solution providers.

Pratap Padode, Founder & Director of Smart Cities Council India, outlined the objectives of the workshop, and stated that the rationale behind choosing Solapur was “to help cities that needed it the most and where the Council could help them to be ‘smart city’ ready.” He also presented the current state of affairs in Solapur and provided areas where it could make a huge difference.

A research report prepared by the Smart Cities Council India was released by all the dignitaries during the inaugural session.

To make the city clean, efficient and progressive, Sanjay Teli, CEO, Solapur City Development Corporation, explained that the city has adopted nine development models that includes 100 per cent waste management, clean environment, housing for all, renewable energy, transportation, water supply and recycling, use of public space and efficient governance.

Dr Rajendra Bhonsle, District Collector, Solapur, emphasised on citizen engagement, which could improve green cover in and around the City. “To reduce dust and pollution, we must implement green zones and citizens should take the ownership,” he suggested. The district collector requested the city authority to undertake smart mobility plan on a long-term basis.

That said, Avinash Dhakne, Commissioner, Solapur Municipal Corporation, explained various areas of concern like water management, waste management, mobility, increasing revenue taxes and public-private partnership projects in Solapur. “There isn’t enough water available for households, let alone industries, which becomes a barrier to economic growth. And even what is available is plagued by inefficient distribution and collection,” he said.

According to Shobha Banshetti, Mayor of Solapur, the projects undertaken under this mission will enable Solapur to catch up with other developed cities in Maharashtra and become one of the prominent cities in the State. However, “A special purpose vehicle (SPV) must fast-track envisaged projects to show results to the citizens of Solapur,” he added.

Chief Guest, Subhash Deshmukh, Minister of Cooperation Marketing and Textile, Government of Maharashtra, asked city representatives to come together and make city clean with the help of ‘Swachh Bharat’ programme. The Minister also asked city authorities and various departments to work together instead of in silos to make the smart city programme a successful one.

Mahadev Tambade, Commissioner of Police, Solapur explained the role of police department in smart cities. He stressed upon deployment of surveillance cameras for security, and for efficient synchronisation in city services – a command and control centre.

The summit also witnessed an interactive session between city authorities and experts from UltraTech, Cisco Systems, Schneider Electric, Maharashtra Energy Development Corporation, Owens Corning, Mindteck, Itron and Responscity Systems.

Here, the Council partners provided solutions on how city can recycle 100 per cent waste water, avoid water pilferage with the help of leak-detection systems and SCADA, system to monitor solid waste management services at the ward level, 100 per cent waste management, and use of smart metering and solar energy with smart streetlights. The partners also provided city authority solutions to improve its revenue with the help of GIS-based asset management systems, and use of multiple digital platforms for complaint management. Presentations were also made on command and control centre installations in keeping with the city’s plan of issuing tenders for the same.

The Solapur Smart City Seminar was highly successful and witnessed an audience of around 200 which included the presence of important dignitaries, government officials besides relevant organisations and financial institutions.